What Advice Did Lance Bass Give Jason Collins About Coming Out?

"He's been trying to plan this for a very long time, contemplating if he wanted to do this," Bass said on his Sirius XM show, Dirty Pop With Lance Bass. "In fact, he said he was going to call me months ago but was too scared, because he wanted to tell me."

Earlier this week, Collins became the first male athlete to come out while being active in a major professional sport, writing in Sports Illustrated, "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." Bass says that while he didn't know Collins, their mutual friend, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, suggested that Collins reach out to him. Bass himself came out in 2006.

"He calls, and I was like 'So, how is your day going?' And he was like 'Well, I just got off the phone with two Presidents and Oprah, so pretty good,'" Bass said. "I gave him some really great connections. He's going to sit down with GLAAD today...and get some really good information...so he doesn't put his foot in his mouth, say something that he's going to regret...This will live [on] for the rest of his life, and he'll always have this first sit-down to look back on -- and he wants to make sure it's good."